I gave myself a little bit of time to digest the information before sharing my official opinion on the outcome of the VCP’s Party Congress. Now that a good month and a half has gone by (sorry, folks) since the completion of the convention… I still got nothing.

That’s not to say I don’t have views on the matter, I just don’t have anything insightful to say about it. To sum it all up in one declarative sentence: I am disappointed.

The headline says it all. Nguyen Phu Trong, aka Trong Lu, retains his position as the General Secretary of the Communist Party. His competitor, Nguyen Tan Dung, is now finishing off his final days as the Prime Minister of the Party, and is slated to resign his post very, very soon.

Most importantly of all, as indicated by the headline, Vietnam is screwed. Actually, to state the situation more accurately, Vietnam is still screwed. Before the congress, under Trong, Vietnam was getting screwed, and now, still under Trong, Vietnam continues to get screwed.

Though they were both horrible choices for the country, former Prime Minister Dung was the lesser of two evils. Dung hated China, he was familiar with liberal economic theory, and he liked the U.S.

Trong, on the other hand, is Beijing’s bitch. He takes orders from Xi Jinping, stays silent on China’s piracy in the Eastern Sea, knows nothing about ANYTHING, discriminates against his fellow countrymen in the South (BLATANTLY), and says stupid things like “Anyone who wishes to lead this country MUST be from the North.”

Although I was hoping that Dung would win this power struggle, I knew that realistically, he did not have much of a chance. The Party is just too full of members who care more about the Party than the nation, who know nothing about governance and economics, and who bend over and take China’s every word without batting an eye. These dummies, cowards, and traitors are not just a wing of the Party. They are the Party. In addition to being the overwhelming majority, the dummies of the VCP also have the backing of China itself, making any opposition to their control a formidable endeavor.

The faction that wants to defend the nation and at the very least give it some dignity is much too small to make an impact. Dung was their last chance, and statistically, he was not likely going to make it. Though Dung had his wits, the deck was stacked overwhelmingly against him.

The system is built to reward the traitors and cowards. Therefore, from my observation, there is no chance for change to happen within the Party. Furthermore, because of this, we cannot ever rely on a communist to bring change to the nation. Either they are of the majority who are too cowardly, stupid, and influenced by China to make a change, or they are of the microscopic minority who are too marginalized and stifled to ever take action.

So, since Dung was the smarter of the two (between Dung vs. Trong), I was hoping that he would have a shot at an upset. He actually came close, but it just wasn’t enough. With the overwhelming majority support of Northerners and Chinese sympathizers (Chinese puppets), as well as the backing of China itself, the Trong faction was able to hold on to power, despite being noticeably shaken by the Dung faction.

And that’s the outcome.

Trong is still there, Dung came out of it alive (for now, at least) but is no longer in a position of power, and Vietnam continues down its perilous path drawn out by Trong and his Chinese overlords.

Now that the Party Congress is over, it’s back to business as usual. The communists will continue selling Vietnam to China, piece by piece, and we, over here on the right side of history, will continue to fight for Vietnam’s freedom.

With that bullshit leadership convention out of the way, let’s get back to what’s really important: Bringing freedom back to Vietnam, and taking the communists down.

I don’t want to give too much credit to the idiots in the Communist Party by acknowledging their coming leadership convention as anything other than completely worthless. However, observing from the outside, one can see some interesting shakeups within the Party that might be worth a watch. A storm has been raging within the VCP, and could possibly boil over any day now.

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but the communists actually hate each other. This little detail held little relevance up until now, but with the new leadership convention coming up, and with it some high government positions on the line, old rivalries between members are reigniting, tempers are flaring, and the gloves are coming off. The major positions of General Secretary, President, and Prime Minister are all up for grabs, and unlike the previous years, the candidates (more like combatants) are showing little reservation in attacking each other openly. The power struggle is real.

The 12th National Congress of the VCP

Every five years, the Vietnamese Communist Party carries out a leadership transition. Known as the National Congress of the VCP, or Party Congress, these five-yearly conventions see the transfer of power to a new generation of Communist Party leaders to run the country.

These leadership conventions have been irrelevant in the past, as every new leadership seems to just carry on with the practices of their predecessors: corruption, suppression, and kowtowing to the Chinese.

For all we know, the results for the coming congress could be exactly the same as the previous years. However, when looking at the current disarray within the Party, and the breakdown of the selection process (they’re basically killing each other right now), there might be reason to pay attention.

Skipping all the smoke and mirror explanations, the Party selection process essentially boils down to patronage. The old leaders prop up their proteges, who promise to carry on the VCP family business of making each other rich by taking from the people. No one rocks the boat, no one speaks up against China, and every crook in the system is happy. Anyone who disagrees gets marginalized, usually politically, but sometimes permanently, by extreme measures.

It’s worked in the past. Leaders are usually chosen at this point, only waiting to be made official at the week-long convention. This time however, with a great rift within the leadership, a leader has still yet to be selected, and as cliche as it sounds, it’s anybody’s race.

The Contenders

Though the system is unpredictable, and neither of the following two contenders are guaranteed victory, this leadership race has largely been seen as revolving around these two famous figures of the current VCP:

Nguyen Phu Trong (Left) vs. Nguyen Tan Dung (Right)

These two guys HATE each other.

Over the past five years, the two have taken subtle jabs at each other that didn’t seem all too important, because they are all communists, and they’re all scum. Though that fact is still true now, the differences in positions that these two hold have suddenly become relevant.

Currently, the Prime Minister Dung is trying to finally break into the seat of General Secretary (the supreme leader of the Party). Meanwhile, the current General Secretary Trong is trying to retain his position, and prevent Dung from gaining the title.

Quoting Alexander L. Vuving, I will describe concisely that “Trong is pro-China and anti-Western while Dung is pro-U.S. and anti-China.” Vuving himself actually discourages this generalization, calling the reality “far more nuanced and complex” than this description suggests. I disagree with Vuving here regarding the complexity statement, and argue that the seemingly over-simplistic description does adequately illustrate the two men. It works for me, based off of what I’ve seen, so I will therefore continue to use this framework to describe the difference between Dung and Trong.

Dung’s selling points, according to Jonathan D. London, is that he is “Vietnam’s most eloquent statesman, a reform champion, and a patriot keen to end Hanoi’s deference to Bejing.” Moreover, he appears to favor “liberalizing market reforms and a willingness to expand freedoms ‘in accordance with the law.'” The Economist describes Dung as “unusually knowledgeable about industry, well-advised by Western-educated staff and knows what investors want to hear.” The source also describes him as Vietnam’s “least uncharismatic politician,” which I think is the British way of saying that he’s Vietnam’s most charismatic politician. I’ll express my skepticism at these remarks, but remain impartial here and say that they are possibilities.

From the evidence gathered, it seems Dung’s strengths stem from the fact that he actually knows how to read, and is not a brainwashed Chinese slave-puppet like his closest competitor and arch rival, ole Nguyen Phu Trong, aka Trong Lu.

Before I proceed further, it is important for me to bring up Dung’s corruption. He is just very, very corrupted. He’s got lots of money that he didn’t work for, and is in no way, shape, or form a decent human being. To be fair, though, he’s a communist, and all of them are corrupted. All of them. I’m about to rip Trong Lu apart, but feel that I need to clarify my views on Dung first: Nguyen Tan Dung is a huge piece of shit, make no mistake. Now that we cleared that up, let’s talk about our pal Lu.

What can we say about Trong Lu? Well, for starters, Jonathan London claims that Trong is “Not known for his intellectual dynamism,” which I gather is just a nice way of saying that Trong is hopelessly stupid. This description is not false, but rather quite true, as a matter of fact. We’ve touched on this topic before, we know that Trong Lu is an absolute idiot. He is understood to be part of the conservative faction of the VCP, otherwise known as the nitwit morons who still cling to Marxism and look to China as their big brother overlords. These “conservative” wingers are the ones who have come to dominate the Party, and are the main culprits charged with “selling out to China.”

I can go on a long tirade about this conservative wing of the Party, but for the sake of brevity, I will sum them up in one sentence: The conservative faction of the VCP are the cowardly Chinese puppets who are handing the country over to China, and Nguyen Phu Trong is the poster boy at the forefront of this faction.

Moreover, Trong is just kind of a loser overall, saying things that he shouldn’t be saying, and humiliating himself on a regular basis. Recently, in an attempt to prevent his enemy Dung from vying for the party chief position, Trong set a decree stipulating that only a Northerner is eligible of becoming General Secretary of the VCP. Dung is a Southerner, and so are many other members of the VCP. Trong’s open discrimination effectively alienated many members of the VCP who are not from the North. As a result, the rift within the Party has only grown larger.

As an outside observer who hates the VCP, I think it’s hilarious. However, as a rational human being, I am just dumbfounded that a grown man, well into his senior, and is CURRENTLY IN CHARGE OF AN ENTIRE FUCKING COUNTRY, is capable of saying something so childish, divisive, and self-destructive. Just when you think he couldn’t get any dumber, he still somehow manages to blow us all away with his stupidity. Honestly, Nguyen Phu Trong is the pinnacle of stupid. He’s just so stupid. SO. STUPID.

I have to stop here, people. I’ve got so much ridicule for Trong Lu that I’m currently at risk of veering off topic. We’re talking about the VCP leadership race, right? Yes, right. To sum up, Trong Lu is a Chinese puppet-slave, a pathetic coward, and is just really, really, REALLY stupid. He has dealt inconceivable damage to the country, and it is appalling that he is trying to retain his grip on power.

The Verdict?

Fuck ’em both.

I know that from the comments given above, you may have an idea of which competitor I may hate somewhat less than the other. But, at the end of the day, they’re still both communists, and they’re both scum.

If Dung wins, the country will still be a mess. If Trong wins, not only will the country still be a mess, but he will continue to hand the country over to China, piece by piece. So, one choice is bad, the other is just worse.

And that, my friends, is the hand dealt to the people of Vietnam under the communist system. It’s not like they get to choose, either. There’s no voting in Vietnam, remember?

This article is less for the purpose of analyzing the coming leadership convention, and more just to make you all aware that a convention is going on.

The 12th Party Congress of the VCP commences on January 20, 2016, and lasts for about a week or so.

Only after the new leader takes power, after he makes clear what his intentions are, can we determine the true verdict. Only then can we judge whether this leadership convention matters or not.

A wise man once said, “Don’t listen to what a communist says, but look at what a communist does.” In keeping with these words of wisdom, no verdict will be provided today.

After months of beating around the bush, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has finally released an official claim to the Paracal and Spratly Islands. Vietnam was the formal the occupier of the Paracel and Spratly Islands since the 18th and 19th centuries, until the Chinese invaded Paracel in 1974, and Spratly in 1988. The Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam was the first country to explore and occupy these islands, becoming the sole patron of both Spratly and Paracel for nearly two centuries. In the 1950’s onward, the Republic of Vietnam held the islands.

Nguyen Tan Dung has formally declared that Paracel and Spratly belong to Vietnam, and has stated that he is willing to use military force to defend the islands from China. According to Bloomberg News, the Prime Minister is also looking to establish talks regarding the Chinese occupation of Paracel which, as mentioned above, once belonged to Vietnam, and, in legal terms, still belongs to Vietnam. The Chinese acquisition of Paracel and the current pieces of Spratly are illegal, and still does not constitute as Chinese territory under international law. Though the PRC holds the islands formally, their rule is illegitimate, and is contestable by Vietnam with historical evidence (and with some help from the military).

The Vietnamese government has announced that they will support the patriotism of the Vietnamese people, so long as that is all the people project. In other words, the people of Vietnam are free to demonstrate against China, but if their is ever a hint of calls for democratization, the government will shut it down by force. The official announcement by PM Nguyen Tan Dung on Paracel and Spratly is definitely positive for the country, though it has been long overdue. There is so much more that the Vietnamese people need, and if the government wants to know what that is, they might want to take a look at Burma.

For a long time now, we have gone over all the problems that Vietnam is faced with, along the different ways to fix them. We’ve been discussing the possible strategies that the Vietnamese leadership could take to turn the country around, as well as how to deal with the coming Chinese invasion. Even with all this discussion, the change that happens in Vietnam is so limited, it seems like nothing substantial is actually happening. China is still bullying Vietnamese fishermen in the eastern sea, poverty and violence is still rampant inside the country, and the human rights situation is as bad as it has ever been.

What’s with all this lack of progress? Why are the Vietnamese Communists still making all the foolish decisions that they’ve been making in the past? Furthermore, why have the Communists not corrected so many of the obvious problems afflicting the country such as human rights and corruption? These issues are not hard to fix, and it’s not like they are left to deal with these problems alone either. Countries like the U.S., Canada, and many western countries see many personal benefits in helping Vietnam fix itself. Sadly, the leadership in Vietnam has not caught on, or have they? Vietnam has been presented with so many golden opportunities, why haven’t they capitalized on them?

Let’s clear this up right now. To a certain extent, the problems plaguing Vietnam today can be attributed to what we call the stupidity of the Communist Party. However, this explanation is way over simplified and does not accurately depict what the leaders in Vietnam are thinking. The reality is, they actually do understand all the benefits that they could bring to Vietnam. Everything we have talked about, all the obvious and practical solutions that I have presented over the existence of this blog, the Communists already know. They know that fighting corruption would improve the country’s development in a substantial way. Not only that, they do understand that fixing human rights would definitely win the U.S. over to their side. Surprisingly enough, they also understand that the country’s people has enormous potential, and that becoming democratic would lead the country into a new era of prosperity. So with all this in mind, why do they still maintain the broken system, the corruption, and the repression?

The reason for the prevalence of this status quo by the Communist Party is simple. Despite the knowledge that a few small but critical reforms can transform the country for the better, the leaders in Vietnam just can’t bare to part from the money and power that comes from being a Communist dictator. Communists members like Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, former General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, and the rest of the Politburo keep the Communist system alive because it allows them to benefit from the pain and suffering of the Vietnamese people. As the inheritors to the money and power, the “men” at the height of the Communist Party are entitled to many privileges and lavishness. They will do anything to make sure that they do not lose this entitlement. These Communist pigs would not hesitate to kill their own people, or even to sell out the country to the Chinese, as long as they can defend their own power.

The Communist leaders themselves do not believe in the ideals in which The Party identifies itself with. They know that Communism is dead, they know that Ho Chi Minh lied to everyone, they know how harmful the status quo is to every citizen in the country. The Communist know all of this, but they refuse to change it because they are too greedy, selfish, and cowardly. If they decided to side with the U.S., they would have to deal with the corruption and human rights. If they were to crackdown on corruption, they would no longer be able to syphon the money from Vietnam’s economy. If they improved human rights, then the people would rise up and hold them accountable for their corruption. Lastly, if they let their people see the smallest glimpse of what democracy can bring to Vietnam, The Party would cease to exist as we known it. As a result, the Communists would lose all of their powers and privileges, and fail to amount to anything.

For all the reasons mentioned above, the Communists will do everything in their power to keep the country weak and their people ignorant. They would not hesitate to let their own people die at the hands of the Communist police or the Chinese pirates. There is no telling how far they would go to defend the power that they inherited from their revolutionary predecessors. That is why, when we characterize the Communist Party, we know they have money, we know they have power, and we definitely know that no one respects them. It is actually wrong to even call them leaders, a more accurate word to describe them would be cockroaches.